Veterans push for Gulf War Illness designation as a VA disability

WASHINGTON — Some veterans groups are urging the Department of Veterans Affairs to formally add Gulf War Illness to its disability rating schedule for determining compensation and medical coverage for sick and injured veterans.

The inclusion would, for the first time, enable veterans to qualify for disability benefits specifically for a diagnosis of Gulf War Illness connected to their active duty in the Persian Gulf, said Ronald Brown, an Army veteran who served with the 82nd Airborne Division and is leading the effort.

The VA uses its disability rating schedule to calculate monthly tax-free disability payments and determine eligibility for health care and other benefits for veterans with service-connected diseases and injuries.

Because Gulf War Illness is a multisymptom condition with no known single cause, the VA historically managed it as an “undiagnosed illness” or “medically unexplained chronic multisymptom illness,” rather than an explicit disease, said Brown, who works as a toxic wound consultant with Vietnam Veterans of America.

The VVA has a stated mission to assist and represent veterans from all conflicts.

After the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recognized Gulf War Illness with a medical diagnostic code in October 2025, many Gulf War veterans and their advocates said they expected the disease would be added to the VA’s Schedule for Rating Disabilities.

But veterans and their advocates say that has not occurred.

The VA said in a statement that it now adds the CDC’s new code into a veteran’s medical record upon request.

“But this is not a necessary step to receive comprehensive medical care at VA for Gulf War Illness,” the VA said. “VA has decades of experience diagnosing, treating and researching Gulf War Illness, and will continue this work on behalf of the thousands of veterans who have been diagnosed with it.”

People with Gulf War Illness — which has no known cure — may experience chronic problems with fatigue, wheezing and shortness of breath, skin rashes, inflammation, memory loss and other cognitive disorders, according to the National Institutes of Health.

“We went over healthy and came back sick. That has not changed in 34 years,” said Jeffrey Ford, who curates an online support group for veterans with Gulf War Illness. “What has changed is that there are now people, some with good intentions and some with institutional interests, making decisions about how our illnesses get categorized.”

The VA has estimated that Gulf War Illness affects more than a third of the roughly 700,000 service members deployed to the Persian Gulf in 1990 and 1991.

“The first time I got sick was within 15 minutes of the demolition of an Iraqi chemical weapons depot in Khamisiyah in March 1991,” said Brown, whose unit secured the compound prior to its destruction.

“I stayed sick, came home sick and left the military sick,” said Brown, who was honorably discharged in February 1997 after eight years of service.

Anthony Hardie, an Army veteran and the national chair and director of Veterans for Common Sense, said that Gulf War Illness claims often are designated as “undiagnosed illnesses” — a category with a high denial rate.

Hardie and other veterans are advocating for the VA not only to include Gulf War Illness as a presumptive condition for benefits but also to create a new rating schedule for the disease itself.

“A disability rating schedule for Gulf War Illness is long overdue. Now that the CDC has finally recognized GWI with a diagnostic code, VA should follow suit and finally make a rating schedule,” said Hardie, a former staff sergeant who now lives in Florida. “Many of us veterans developed symptoms while in theater that never went away. My symptoms have worsened over the years, and my medical issues have compounded.”

The veterans also acknowledged that they do not have an estimate on how much it would cost to compensate former service members with a designated Gulf War Illness rating.

“The ‘undiagnosed illness’ determination has absolutely failed the veterans it was intended to help,” Brown said. “Adding Gulf War Illness to 38 CFR 3.317 would likely provide broader and more meaningful benefits to Gulf War veterans than the current ‘undiagnosed illness’ framework has been able to provide.”

Section 3.317 refers to federal rules guiding VA compensation for disability due to undiagnosed illnesses and medically unexplained chronic multisymptom illnesses in veterans.

The VA website describes Gulf War Illness as a cluster of “medically unexplained chronic symptoms.”

Veterans have qualified for disability compensation based on their symptoms, in lieu of a Gulf War Illness rating, Brown said

“VA presumes certain chronic, unexplained symptoms existing for six months or more are related to Gulf War service without regard to cause. These ‘presumptive’ illnesses must have begun or were exacerbated after active duty in the Southwest Asia theater of military operations,” according to the website.

The VA website lists qualifying illnesses for compensation as fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, gastrointestinal disorders and “undiagnosed illnesses.”

But the website does not list Gulf War Illness as an eligible presumptive condition.

Paul Sullivan, a Gulf War Army veteran and former project manager at the VA, said that the agency needs to issue regulations stating that veterans with a Gulf War diagnosis can be compensated for their illness and provided with free health care.

“For decades, countless Desert Shield and Desert Storm veterans suffering from Gulf War Illness have had their claims with VA denied,” said Sullivan, a former cavalry scout in the 1st Armored Division during Operation Desert Storm in Iraq and Kuwait in 1991.

“Once those regulations are in place, veterans can talk to their providers about placing Gulf War Illness as a diagnosis in their records,” Sullivan said.